Fresh off her appearance at last weekend’s CMA Music Festival, Miranda Lambert is enjoying a little downtime with her pets at home in Tishomingo, OK this week.  She tweeted Tuesday, “It’s summer in Oklahoma. I guess me and the dogs should get some sun. They could use a tan!”

We’re sure Miranda is taking precautions so the dogs don’t overheat while catching some rays.

Miranda doesn’t have far to go for her next concert.  She’s playing a show in Newkirk, OK on Thursday.  Of note, all previously announced Pistol Annies shows this month will now be performed by Miranda solo due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

 

 

 

Brad Paisley hasn’t unleashed any of his legendary pranks on the opening acts on his Beat This Summer just yet. Instead, he’s been treating them to outings to the movies and trips to the go-cart track in the past few weeks. So, why is Brad being so nice to this year’s openers, including Lee Brice, Chris Young and The Henningsens?  

He explains, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to tour and only get these acts out one time, and I like to try to make it really hard for another headliner to give ’em a better time, you know?”

Brad still remembers the artists who treated him well on the road, including Brooks & Dunn. The duo would rent out a club near the venue they were playing so they could just chill out and play music with the opening acts, including Brad and Rascal Flatts at the time.

“We would go out and jam,” Brad says. “We would all get up and just do everything from Mellencamp songs to George Jones songs. It was a real camaraderie.”

Brad wants to take his touring buddies out to see Man of Steel this weekend, so fans in Orange Beach, AL may want to head to their local movie theater after his shows there Saturday night.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

 

 

 

Dierks Bentley and his wife, Cassidy, will welcome their first son this fall. The couple already has two daughters, so they’ hoping just to keep up with all the little ones that will soon be roaming around their house.

Dierks says, “A friend of mine said having three kids is like having a thousand, and I’m kind of starting to see how that’s probably gonna be true ’cause it’s already pretty crazy with two.  But yeah, we’re pretty excited.”

Sometimes it’s still hard for Dierks to believe he’s turned into such a family man though.

“My short term memory is kind of not really that existent that much anymore,” he explains.  “It seems like yesterday I was single and on the road playing bars and now I’m here, and I have a wife and two kids and a third one on the way.  Life’s crazy like that.”

On the music front, Dierks’ new single, “Bourbon in Kentucky,” will be included on his upcoming album, Riser, due out later this year.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

 

 

 

Darius Rucker gives fans an inside view into his songwriting process in a new one-hour special premiering June 20 on GAC. Songtellers with Darius Rucker: The Story of True Believers featuring the country star on stage with his pals who co-wrote his latest album, True Believers, with him.  Writing with other people was a foreign concept to Darius back when he was the front man of Hootie & The Blowfish.

“I wrote by myself,” he explains. “I used to think I had to be inspired to write something, and I learned in Nashville that you can write whenever you want.”

The special was filmed at Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre and airs on GAC Thursday, June 20 at 10 p.m. ET.

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

 

 

 

Billy Currington‘s new album, We Are Tonight, is due out September 17 featuring his latest single, “Hey Girl.” Billy also covered Jack Johnson‘s “Banana Pancakes” and welcomed Willie Nelson to sing on the track “It’s Hard to Be a Hippie.”

We Are Tonight also marks the first time Billy has worked with multiple producers on a project. He says, “It wasn’t planned but just kind of happened that way.  It was a great experience to be able to bring a different sound to this album and I hope the fans love it as much as I do.”

Billy is on the road this summer. Keep up with his tour dates at BillyCurrington.com.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

 

 

 

Brantley Gilbert and Jana Kramer celebrated the one-year anniversary of the day they met with a trip to McDonalds. The now-engaged couple got acquainted a year ago at the CMT Music Awards, and after this year’s show, Jana tweeted a picture of the two getting fast food with the hashtag “CMT tradition.”

She also takes responsibility for Brantley taking a style detour on Wednesday. “He looks so cute,” she told Us Weekly. “I picked his jacket out. This is the first time ever he’s wearing a color other than black on the red carpet!”

Brantley popped the question in January at the historic Ryman Auditorium, and Jana hints their upcoming nuptials may hold a few surprises. “Me and Brantley are very non-traditional,” she says.  “It’s gonna be really country and fun and laid-back.”

The two have set a wedding date, even though they’re not revealing when it is.

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

 

 

 

Older Than the Beatles

A professor of psychology at a British university included a lecture on crowd psychology in his annual course. To illustrate mass hysteria, he regularly showed TV news footage of teenage crowds greeting the Beatles at the local airport in the 1960’s.

One year, when he ran the footage, he heard squeals and bursts of
laughter from his students. When the film ended he asked what had caused
the hilarity.

Replied one student, “we recognized some of our parents!”

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

 

 

 

 

Blake Shelton‘s latest album, Based on a True Story, enjoyed a 69% sales increase, thanks to his NBC Healing in the Heartland tornado relief special on May 29. His May 27 performance of “Boys ‘Round Here” on The Voice also helped album sales reach 42,000 last week, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Those figures put Blake back at #1 on Billboard‘s Country Albums chart and #4 on the overall Billboard 200 chart.

Blake also enjoys his best digital single sales week ever with “Boys ‘Round Here,” moving 147,000 copies for a 36% increase.

Blake’s wife Miranda Lambert shows up on John Fogerty‘s new album, Wrote a Song for Everyone, which sold 51,000 copies last week for a #3 start on the Billboard 200.  Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Zac Brown Band and Alan Jackson are among the other stars performing new versions of Fogerty’s hits with him on that album.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

 

 

 

Brad Paisley invited six-year-old drummer Avery Molek on stage in Pittsburgh over the weekend for their second performance of Van Halen‘s “Hot for Teacher.”

Brad first performed with Avery earlier this year on ABC’s Good Morning America after seeing the boy’s drumming talents featured in a viral video on the morning show.  Avery had no problem backing Brad up on the Van Halen classic in front of the Pittsburgh audience of 18,000 fans.

Brad continues his Beat This Summer tour this weekend with shows in Ohio and North Carolina.  Chris Young, Lee Brice and The Henningsens are opening the shows.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

 

 

 

One of the newest stops for sightseers at CMA Music Festival this week is expected to be the grave site of George Jones, who passed away April 26. The country legend was laid to rest at Nashville’s Woodlawn Cemetery, and Thursday, his widow announced plans for an elaborate monument.

“Earlier this week a plaque was placed at Woodlawn Cemetery to announce a Monument to be constructed in the coming months,” Nancy writes on Jones’s website, next to an image of the plaque.  “Thank you for all your love and support shown to George and me.”  Fans who visit the grave site will be able to see a rendering of the monument on the plaque.

What was to be Jones’ “final Nashville concert” at the Bridgestone Arena is set to continue as an all-star tribute, with R&B legend Sam Moore, Charlie Daniels, Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt, The Oak Ridge Boys and more set to play the November 22 show.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

 

 

 

A new project featuring Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Josh Turner and Kacey Musgraves is aimed squarely at the pre-school set. Grammy-nominated children’s writer Sandra Boynton has recruited those stars and more to sing on her new country album and illustrated songbook, Frog Trouble, due out September 3.

Brad lends his voice to the song “Copycat,” and Darius is featured on “Beautiful Baby.” Dwight Yoakam, Alison Krauss and rocker Mark Lanegan of Queens of the Stone Age fame are also featured on the project.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry